Frankie Edgar camp open to fighting at UFC 153 or later

Frankie Edgar (14-3-1 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC) was understandably upset, as was the rest of the MMA world, to hear that featherweight champ Jose Aldo (21-1 MMA, 3-0 UFC) had been forced to withdraw from UFC 153 due to injury.

But the ex-UFC lightweight champ’s manager said he is open to fighting at the Oct. 13 pay-per-view event or another down the line.

“If the UFC wants Frankie to fight anybody, he’ll fight anybody,” Ali Abdel-Aziz today told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com). “It doesn’t matter. If they want him to fight on this card, he’ll fight on this card. If they want him to wait, he’ll wait.”

UFC 153, which takes place at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, took a one-two punch with the injury withdrawals of Aldo and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, who had been scheduled to fight Glover Teixeira.

With the dropouts came volunteers for short-notice duty. As previously reported, Fabio Maldonado offered to fight Teixeira, and ex-WEC champ Urijah Faber volunteered himself and teammate Chad Mendes to fight Aldo.

Aldo, who agreed to fight Edgar after his original UFC 153 opponent, Erik Koch (13-1 MMA, 2-0 UFC), withdrew due to a knee injury, was reportedly hit by a car while riding his motorcycle in Brazil.

“We thought he was OK, and the champion he is, he tried to work through the injuries,” Aziz said. “But if I was him, of course, I wouldn’t fight injured because you have a lot to lose.”

Aziz also echoed an earlier report that the UFC is currently undecided on a potential replacement for the featherweight champ.

“At this point, I don’t know,” he said. “Maybe [Aldo is] going to try and see the doctor. I don’t know what’s going on.”

But regardless of whether Edgar fights at UFC 153, or at another event against another opponent, Aziz extended his sympathies to the champ.

As the UFC 189 tour made its last stop in Dublin, featherweight champ Jose Aldo was met with a torrent of abuse from the Irish fans. It might have been unpleasant, but it might also have been just what he needed.